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3 ways to improve consistency

Success and Habit are almost always said in the same sentence

To be good at anything we must form habits, which coincidentally is synonymous with being consistent (kind of redundant isn’t it?) Meaning that we must get comfortable with doing the same thing every single day.

Think of your habit as practice

With the idea that habits are necessary for success in mind, I also want to tack on that they are also necessary to achieve any type of long term growth. Also meaning that in a way, whatever you’re doing day in and day out can be seen as practice.

For example,

A body builder spends most of their time focusing on their bodies. They have a set eating regimen that dictates how many calories they must eat and at what time. They have a set workout schedule that they do every week, which they also tweak consistently as they adapt. They spend a certain amount of time resting in between sets and they spend a certain amount of time outside of their workouts resting. They have a routine, one that they stick to day in and day out.

Or consider trading,

A trader must make sure to spend a great deal of time linked to the markets. While doing this, they must pay attention to new developments that are being made in the market and find ways to take advantage of them. Traders must also watch their securities and make sure to pay special attention to new developments in the companies that they are invested in. They must pay very special attention to their mental state and make sure that they are stable, in a sense. Overall, in the effort to do these things they must regulate their processes, or else they won’t be successful in tracking said things.

What I’m getting at is that its necessary to do these things to ensure growth (or at least find out why you’re not growing). It’s necessary to keep track of what’s working, what’s not working, and what just doesn’t make plain sense in hindsight.

How to remain consistent you ask?

Make it up your mind

Being consistent isn’t an act, it’s a way of life. This simply means that consistent people don’t try to be consistent, they just do it. To be consistent you have to make up your mind that that’s what you want. After doing this, you just go for it. You start committing to do the same thing everyday, even if you don’t feel like it. You simply do.

Automate your processes.

Obviously, we’re not robots but we can get our bodies into routines. It’s easier to explain this if I give an example. Say for instance that you decide that you want to start getting up at 7 in the morning every day. To do this, you decide to set your alarm for 7 in the morning, which in turn is the time that you wake up at the next day. You keep doing this every day for the next month, but on the day that the month is up you forget to set the alarm. To your surprise, you still wake up at 7.00 am. Congrats, you have officially gotten into a routine. Your body now understands that it must wake up at 7 in the morning for some reason. You did it consistently and now your body does it by itself.

Stay focused

Remember what you’re working for. For instance, in the bodybuilder scenario you’d be working towards gaining a specific amount of mass or getting your strength to a certain level. After you know that goal, you just must stick with it. You must remember what you want and use that desire as fuel for the fire. Or, if you want to achieve a certain net worth in a specific length of time, you must remember that and use it as fuel for the fire. Obviously, you’ll need to have a set goal first and then a way to remember that goal (a vision board can help)

Stay focused. Stay disciplined. Keep grinding.

P.s. Keep your mind open though, as you get better at what you do your routine will slowly change. Accept this change.